Tattoos

I must admit that the first 20 minutes or so of the 'Tattoos' lecture i was very unconvinced. I couldn't quite ascertain what the lecture intended to achieve. I still remain unconvinced that it broke any particular philosophical ground really, but as the lecture ran on I found it most interesting and educational. I would not call myself a tattoo enthusiast, I don't think it would be fair to say that, even though I do have a large number of tattoos including what is the best part of a full right sleeve. I have only ever really had a tattoo because I wanted one, plain and simple. I have never ventured 'into the chair' and 'under the needle' intent on 'adding to my collection'. I would go as far to say, also, that my tattoos don't really mean that much to me really. Sure, I have certain things that are relevant to my life. I have something written on my back from when I was 16 that is very much still relevant now, I have artistic designs that have certain symbolic meaning and I also have tattoos that mean absolutely diddly squat. I cant take them too seriously. Its just my skin, its not my soul, and I don't rely upon them to influence my identity. Equally, I am asked so many times 'What will you do when you get older?' and 'What will happen when you decide you don't want them anymore?'. Well, I suppose that the first response to that is that I certainly won't be able to remove them, in the quantity I have them, so thats not an option! Secondly, it just wouldn't be 'me' to really worry about that anyway. In my view, I have them now, and now is forever, until the next moment, so I am happy with them. Do I ever regret any of them? Well to venture slightly further into my beliefs, that would non-sensical to me as that would require the benefit of hindsight, which as far as I understand we only have access to AFTER we have carried out an act. I CANT regret them, because at the very moment that I sat own to have any of them I thought it was the best thing to do at that very moment, so I will stand by it. We have no re-runs of life. There is no dress rehearsal. We simply do the best we can in any given situation and live with the consequences. And I'm content with that. I have a few tattoos where, given the same situation again, I may not sit in the chair and take the needle, but that chance will never be afforded to me so I am not interested in that debate.

I recommend anyone to watch 'Miami Ink', which is an American TV show that portrays the business, lives and art of a group of tattooists. Here is a link...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-nz_-CNz4pA